Cleared: General McChrystal, the one-time commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan

A Pentagon inquiry into a Rolling Stone magazine article that led to the sacking of General Stanley McChrystal has cleared him of wrongdoing.

The investigation questioned the magazine's accuracy which quoted anonymous people around McChrystal, the then top U.S. commander in Afghanistan.

The reported remarks by his aides about members of the White House's national security team including Vice President Joe Biden led to his sacking after a tense one-on-one meeting with Barack Obama in the Oval Office.

At the time Mr Obama dismissed him, he accused the general of falling short of 'the standard that should be set by a commanding general.'

But the Defense Department inspector general's report said that available evidence did not support the conclusion that McChrystal had violated any applicable legal or ethics standard.

Last week the White House appointed McChrystal as head of a new advisory board to support military families - an initiative led by First Lady Michelle Obama and Jill Biden, wife of the vice president.

The new job was announced four days after the inspector general's report was finished. White House spokesman Tommy Vietor declined to comment on the report.

Rolling Stone issued a statement saying it stood behind its story, which it called 'accurate in every detail.'

Fired: President Barack Obama meeting US Army Genera McChrystal before he was dismissed for 'falling short' of the standards expected of a general

President Obama announces that he has accepted the resignation of General Stanley McChrystal as his successor, General David Petraeus, looks on in the White House Rose Garden

The inspector general's report said it reviewed an internal Army investigation of the case and interviewed numerous eyewitnesses, concluding that not all of the events at issue happened as reported by Rolling Stone.

A tense looking General McChrystal arriving at the White House for his meeting with President Obama. He left just 20 minutes later having been relieved of his command

The report added: 'In some instances, we found no witnesses who acknowledged making or hearing the comments as reported.

'In other instances, we confirmed that the general substance of an incident at issue occurred, but not in the exact context described in the article.'

After the 20-minute meeting with McChrystal, Mr Obama said he
did not make the decision over any disagreement in policy or 'out of any
sense of personal insult.'

Flanked by Vice President Joe Biden,
Defence Secretary Robert Gates and Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the
Joint Chiefs of Staff, in the Rose Garden, he said: 'War is bigger than
any one man or woman, whether a private, a general, or a president.'

He
urged the Senate to confirm General David Petraeus swiftly as his
replacement and emphasised the Afghanistan strategy he announced in
December was not shifting with McChrystal's departure.

McChrystal – who was appointed to the Afghan post only last June – made his controversial comments in a profile entitled Runaway General.

He said that the first time he met Mr Obama he found the President 'unengaged' and 'disappointing'.

He was also dismissive of Vice President Joe Biden, and either the general
or some of his aides openly criticised other senior political and
military figures.

His replacement, Gen Petraeus is the
nation's best-known military man, having risen to prominence as the
commander who turned around the Iraq war in 2007, applying a
counterinsurgency strategy that has been adapted for Afghanistan.

Petraeus
has a reputation for rigorous discipline. He keeps a punishing pace: he
spent more than 300 days on the road last year.

President Obama speaks with McChrystal on Air Force One last October, shortly after the general had been appointed to take over as commander of U.S. operations in Afghanistan

Controversy: General McChrystal pictured on the first two pages of the controversial Rolling Stone feature which brought his long military career to an end

Obama's general: The fateful cover of the Rolling Stone issue which contained the McChrystal profile

Mr Obama
seemed to suggest that McChrystal's military career was over, saying the
nation should be grateful 'for his remarkable career in uniform' as if
that had drawn to a close.

McChrystal left the White House after the meeting and returned to his military quarters at Washington's Fort McNair.

The unprecedented row sent shockwaves through Washington and the Pentagon.

McChrystal fired his press aide and apologised for his 'poor judgment' over
the article, which implied that his real enemy were 'the wimps in the
White House'.

In the
profile, one of his aides was quoted as saying of Mr Obama's senior
envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke: 'The Boss says
he's like a wounded animal.

'Holbrooke keeps hearing rumours that he's going to get fired, so that makes him dangerous.'

Reacting
to an email the envoy sent him, McChrystal says at one point: 'Oh, not
another email from Holbrooke. I don't even want to read it.'

McChrystal is depicted as having no truck with those who are sceptical about his tactics, such as Mr Biden.

At
one stage he pretends to be dismissing Mr Biden from his post, saying:
'Are you asking me about Vice President Biden? Who's that?'

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General McChrystal cleared of violating US military policy over Rolling Stone article